Re: NFL (pronounced Niffle) Thread.

Originally Posted by TheEmerged

RE: Drinking the Kool Aid.

Take the area where I live for a counterpoint (reminder: I live near Cincinnati but I am not a Bengals fan). The local press are horrible bandwagon riders -- although there's an interesting twist to it.

When the Bengals are losing, Mike Brown (owner) gets beat upon horribly.

When the Bengals are winning, Marvin Lewis (coach) can do no wrong.

Now don't get me wrong, because Mikey Boy deserves at least half of the venom thrown his direction. The problem of course is that Saint Marvin also deserves a sizable portion of it, and the local sports people coat him in teflon. If I have to have that "Maybe he has a sub-50% win percentage because... he's not a winning coach?" conversation again, I'll get even balder.

Cincinatti's second biggest problem has always been a shallow roster. When the Steelers broke Palmer, there was no real backup Qb available. When Johnson left because he wasn't getting enough spotlight, there was nobody to step into that WR slot.

Their biggest problem is being an AFC North team. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are always powerhouses, while Cleveland shows bouts of shocking semi-competence every so often. The crucial division games are always chancy. Of course, that applies in reverse as well. The Steelers and Ravens rarely go into a game against the Bengals that they can guarantee a win.